Mikhail Shishkin inaugurated the Harriman Writer in Residence Program in April 2013. During his time at Columbia he taught a seminar on “Classics and Politics in Contemporary Russian Literature” and appeared with Marian Schwartz, the translator of his novel Maidenhair (2012), for a conversation and reading.

Shishkin has won all three of Russia’s major literary awards: the Russian Booker, the National Bestseller, and the Big Book Prize. The English translation of Maidenhair was shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award.

Watch the video, Mikhail Shishkin: A Reading and Conversation with His Translator.

Read Bradley Gorski’s “Interview with Mikhail Shishkin” (Harriman Magazine, Summer 2013).

Photo by E. Frolkina